Valve guide for flush tanks



Feb. 7, 1956 WARE 1 2,733,449

VALVE GUIDE FOR FLUSH TANKS Filed Sept. 28, 1953 Ennis Wizrevmwnonmnaon; FILUSHTA-NKS' Ennis ware, seagmviestrtx.

Appti'catieu=s eptemlieez"s,=r953; SeriatNot 382,611

slolaims, of. 4-57);

This inventionrelatesto a novel lower valveguide for flush tanksadapted. to function in conjunction with the conventional upper valveg'uid'e' and which is mounted for movement with the valvetopreventlateral displacement; of the valve whilein araised,- openposition and to insur 'e return of the valveto a" properly seated andclosed position.

Another objectof the invention is to: provide alower valve" guide whichis swingablysupported on the overfibw pipeand which is restrainedagainst lateral displacement during its swinging movement with the valveby said overflow pipe for insuring proper return of the valve to aclosed position.

A further object of the invention is to provide a lower guide having afree end supported on the upper end of the valve and whereby the weightof the guide will insure proper return of the valve to a closedposition.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafterbecome more fully apparent from the following description of thedrawing, illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, andwherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view, partly in section, showing thevalve guide in an applied position;

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along aplane as indicated by the line 2-2 of Figure 1 and showing the valveguide in top plan, and

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view on an enlarged scale, takensubstantially along a plane as indicated by the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, for the pur pose ofillustrating a preferred application and use of the valve guide,designated generally 5 and comprising the invention, a portion of aconventional flush tank 6 has been illustrated including a part of theflush tank bottom 7. The upper end of a conventional outlet pipe 8extends into the tank through the bottom 7 and has a liquidtightconnection therewith by conventional securing means. The upper end ofthe outlet pipe 8 opens into the lower end of a conventional valve seat9 having a lateral extension 10 which supports the usual upstandingoverflow pipe 11 and forms a communicating passage between said pipe 11and the outlet pipe 8. A conventional type flush valve 12 seats in theopen upper end of the valve seat 9. A valve stem 13 has a lower enddetachably secured to the top of the valve 12, as by a threadedconnection, so that said valve may be replaced when required and saidvalve stem extends upwardly therefrom through the eye 14 of aconventional valve guide 15 which is detachably clamped to an upperportion of the overflow pipe 11. A trip wire 16 is pivotally connectedat its upper end to the free end of a pivotally mounted arm or lever 16aof the flushing mechanism and which is vertically swingable for raisingand lowering the trip wire. Said trip wire 16 has a laterally turnedlower end terminating in an eye 17 which loosely engages the valve stem13 between the guide eye 14 and an eye 18, formed on the upper end ofthe stem 13 and from the valvete and has an upturned outer' end 22 theter'rn'ihal portion of which is bifurcated to provide later ally s'paeedfurcations 23, asbest seen Figure 3.

The ames alseineludesa lever, designated gene ally 24 which includes anintegral elongated loopportion 2'5 whichis-spacetr from" the endsthereof; Oneend of the lever 24' fits turuablybet weenthe f urcations 2sandi's provided with an openin or eye 26 whichturnably his the shanko'fat bolt and nut fastening 27 which extendsthrough the furcations 23and is detachably' secured theretb The axis of the eye" or opening26i's' disposed at. a righ to loosely straddle the overflow pipe 11,around which it is disposed and of adequate length to allow the lever toswing upwardly to substantially above its horizontal position of Figurel or downwardly to beneath said position if necessary. The leverportions defining the sides of the loop 25 are supported slightly out ofcontact with the pipe 11 or sufiiciently close thereto to prevent anyappreciable lateral movement of the lever 24 relatively to the pipe 11.The other end of the lever 24 terminates in an eye 28 which is disposedcoplanar with the loop 25 and through which the valve stem 13 looselyextends. The free end 28 of the lever rests upon the upper end of thevalve 12 around the stem 13, so that said free end is supported by thevalve.

In applying the guide 5, it is only necessary to detach the valve stem13 so that the conventional guide 15 may be loosened and removed fromthe pipe 11, after which the assembled valve guide unit 5 may be appliedover the upper end of the pipe 11. When the bracket 19 is properlypositioned the clamp 20 is tightened for securing the bracket to theoverflow pipe. The conventional valve guide 15 and the valve stem 13 arethen reapplied. Thus,

it will be seen that the guide unit 5 constitutes an attachment whichmay be applied to the flushing unit of a conventional flush tank withoutany modification of the conventional structure and said guide unit 5actually constitutes a lower guide which functions with the conventionalguide 15.

As the valve 12 is raised in a conventional manner by an upward swingingmovement of the lever 16a, the guide lever 24 is caused to swingupwardly therewith since the eye 28 thereof is resting on the valve 12.The eye 28 is sufficiently large to accommodate movement of the leverrelatively to the valve stem 13 occurring in the normal opening movementof the valve. The lever 24 will guide the valve 12 in its upwardmovement but its primary function is to guide the valve in its returnmovement downwardly back toward a closed position and will prevent thevalve 12 from swinging horizontally in any direction sufficiently sothat the valve will not return to a properly seated position.Additionally, the weight of the lever 24will assist the gravity returnof the valve 12 to its closed position of Figure 1 and insure a properseating thereof.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously beresorted to, without departing from the spirit or scope of the inventionas hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

t angle to the plane of the loop 25 so that the lever 245 is sw-ingablysupper-ted at its end 26 err the brack t: 1 tgr swinging movement in aplane normal? to the lane of: the lbop 25; said lbop 25 is of a width- Iclaim as my invention; H 1

1. A flush valve guide of the character described comprising a leverhaving a free end adapted to rest on a flush valve, means adapted to besupported on a flush tank overflow pipe and to which the opposite end ofsaid lever is pivotallyconnected for vertical swinging movement of thelever, said lever having an-elongatedloop portion spaced from the endsthereofand disposed around said overflow pipe, and the free end of saidlever having an eye adapted to engage loosely around a valve stem whichrises from the valve and by whichthe valve is raised from a closedposition, the weight of said lever urging the valve downwardly to aclosed position from a raised open position and said eye cooperatingwith-the valve stem to restrict horizontal movement of the valve whilein an open position and for causing the valve to be guided by the leverback to aproperly seated closed position.

2. A flush valve guide as in claim 1, said loop having spaced sideportions straddlingthe'overflow pipe and normally spaced slightlytherefrom whereby the overflow pipe functions as a guide to preventlateral swinging movement of said lever.

3. A flush valve guide as in claim 1, said means for pivotally mountingthe lever comprising a bracket having a clamp adjustably secured to theoverflow pipe for mounting the bracket thereon, an arm projecting fromsaid clamp in a direction away from the valve and having an upstandingfree end, and pivot means pivotally connecting the pivoted end of saidlever to the upstanding end of said arm. I

4. A flush valve guide as in claim 3, said upstanding end of the armhaving a bifurcated upper portion between which the pivoted end of thelever is disposed for swinging movement and through which said pivotmeans extends, said pivoted end of the lever having an eye turnablyengaging said pivot means and disposed in a plane at a right angle tothe plane of said loop and of the eye of the free end of said lever.

5. A flush valve guide as in claim 1, the pivoted end of said leverbeing disposed slightly above the level of the top of the valve when thevalve is in a closed position whereby the lever is supported by saidpivot means and the valve in substantially a horizontal position whensaid valve is in a closed position.

References Cited in the file of this patent .UNITED STATES PATENTS1,201,416

